In a region recognized throughout the world for its contribution to pop, rock, jazz and techno, the University is drawing attention to the metro area’s often unrecognized visual arts.
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A still image from the film “HERE COME ‘dA JUDGE,” by Gary Schwartz (Photo courtesy Nick Sousanis)
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“Perpendicular: Wake Up Call of the Invisible People” by Jack Johnson (Photo courtesy Nick Sousanis)
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“The Urban Picked Up Paper Chart” by Stephen Schudlich (Photo courtesy Nick Sousanis)
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The timely effort is a new exhibition space fittingly named Work:Detroit, a venue that elicits the ethos that has long defined the region while offering a showcase for contemporary sensibilities.
With the opening of Work:Detroit, the School of Art & Design unveils an art gallery where makers of creative work from U-M and the Detroit area exhibit side by side, often in collaboration, facilitating interaction and dialogue.
The gallery is located in the U-M Detroit Center, the University’s recruitment and community outreach arm in the city. The block M is visible above the entrance to the building, one block south of Orchestra Hall.
“The promise for Work:Detroit extends beyond the university and Detroit,” says Bryan Rogers, dean of the School of Art & Design. “The aim is for the gallery to emerge as one of the region’s premier destinations to experience the excitement of contemporary, creative work.”
The inaugural exhibition, “Intersection,” provides a symbolic beginning.
Thirty artists have created works that offer compelling interpretations of the history, culture and aesthetics of the intersection outside the gallery, at Woodward and Mack avenues, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The opening show is a bold, timely statement about the synergies that happen when creative communities come together, Rogers says.
Artists in the show include Lowell Boileau, Jim Cogswell, Scott Hocking, Jack Johnson, Jocelyn Rainey, Senghor Reid, Gary Schwartz, Nick Tobier, Vito Valdez and Marilyn Zimmerman.
Some works document the life at the intersection, including audio interviews and historic photographs. Others explore the site’s history through computer-based audio-visual creations. A light-hearted piece presents the animated adventures of Judge Woodward, the architect of the city’s street plan.
“Intersection” spreads outside of the gallery with sculptures on the streets of native people who once inhabited the region, a mural installation on the building’s windows and an interactive bus stop.
This new gallery along Woodward Avenue opens in midtown Detroit, home to the region’s cultural jewels, including Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Science Center, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and Detroit Institute of Arts.
The newly expanded and renovated DIA reopens on Nov. 23, and is expected to draw crowds looking to explore the revamped museum and discover other art venues in the midtown district.
“There is a lot happening in the arts in the Detroit area,” says Nick Sousanis, director of Work:Detroit.
“The way the region is spread out, things are disparate, there are separate islands of activity, but really no central arts district,” he says. “With the gallery, the University of Michigan has created a place where ideas and people can come together.”
Much like artistic process and development in the city’s midtown district, Work:Detroit is a work in progress, Rogers says.
“We’ll offer exhibitions, collaborative projects, lectures and arts events,” he says. “Foremost, we intend to foster connections among the diverse range of artists, arts groups and cultural institutions in both Ann Arbor and Detroit, and beyond.”
“Intersection,” the inaugural exhibit at Work:Detroit, runs through Nov. 2. Work:Detroit is at 3663 Woodward Ave., Detroit. For more information, go to www.art-design.umich.edu/workdetroit. Or contact Nick Sousanis (313) 593-0940, [email protected].
See the vodcast at www.umich.edu/news/index.html?videos.
